Jefferson Johnson, now 10, built a game app for fellow kids where players fend off aliens trying to attack their treehouse.

Jefferson Johnson might not know code — or reach the kitchen cabinets for that matter — but that didn’t stop him from creating an iPhone app.

At the age of 9.

Using a noncoding game design platform, he developed a game called “Treehouse Wars!” where players defend their treehouse from being attacked by aliens with weapons ranging from speedy frisbees to water balloons. After six months of work, the youngster, now 10, released his game on iTunes’ App Store. Since that launch July 18, Treehouse Wars! has been downloaded more than 3,000 times in about 25 countries.

But like any grizzled exec, he wasn’t satisfied. Little Jefferson also decided to launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign with the marketing help and vast network of his dad, serial technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, to pay for his computer programming tutoring and create an upgraded version of the game, with extra treehouse protection, for 99 cents. Within 24 hours, Jefferson reached his $1,000 funding goal.

You’d think this was Jefferson’s maiden business venture. But he’s a veritable veteran at commerce by now. When he was a mere 7 years old, he founded Candywrapper Inc. with his dad and younger brother, Talmage, then 5, and sold family fun packs of food to his neighbors. We talked to Jefferson about where he got the idea and how he plans to balance app development and spelling homework when he starts fifth grade in the fall. And he answered us like any 10-year-old would: candidly and tersely.

Tell me about your app. It’s called Treehouse Wars. You protect your treehouse from aliens, they are trying to take over your treehouse with weapons. Me and my dad have been trying to do lots of projects together. So we tried robots and either it’s too complex or he did all the work. So then we thought of the idea of an app, and we found a platform and I made an app.